Editor's note 9.25.2024: This post has been updated to define deprecation and provide clarity on how this impacts WSUS. As part of our vision for simplified Windows management from the cloud, Micr...
Updated Sep 24, 2024
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exchange12rocks in a previous posting you outlined your requirements for a 4 digit number of VMs.
Usually you would be using Windows Server Datacenter with Software Assurance
(Edit: via Enterprise Agreement or CSP Subscription.) This covers Azure Stack HCI licensing entirely. Nothing else is required on the licensing side.
Zero cost for Azure Stack HCI, Windows Server and no requirements for WS CAL (except RDS or Exchange when not otherwise licensed).
ESU and Azure Update Manager, AKS (for the number of licensed cores) are included. And some other benefits. Does this help you?
Yes Azure Stack HCI requires a bit of different hardware for networking but this depends on different design decisions and cluster size. I would be glad to discuss your situation. It's a very performant and cost effective solution.
Especially at the time of HW renewals.
For large data requirements Dell, currently exclusively offers an external dHCI solution on top of the Azure Stack HCI S2D.
In future there might come further benefits like Exchange subscription.
Find more information here